The Top Ten: Amid heated gun control debate, Obama endorses a new assault weapons ban

Each week, Texas on the Potomac gives you a second glimpse at the most popular posts on our site. Here are your ten favorite posts for the week of Dec. 16 to Dec. 22:

1. Fox News cuts off Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson after she won’t name one program she’d cut. The exchange about budgets cuts got heated during a Fox News show, with Johnson telling Cavuto that if he would “just shut up” she would try to talk of cuts. Yet, when given the change, the congresswoman seemed to have an “oops moment” worthy of Rick Perry and could not come up with a single cut. Jana Kasperkevic reports >>

3. As nationwide debate about gun control heats up, NRA goes silent. The National Rifle Associated, NRA, stayed silent for a week after the news of Friday’s events broke. Jana Kasperkevic reports >>

4. Conservatives erupt after Sheila Jackson Lee mentions “entitlements” that “are earned.” Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has the conservative blogosphere in a tizzy again today. The target of right-wing wrath is the liberal Democrat’s contention that Congress should look “carefully at how we reform entitlements that are not handouts but they are earned.” Rick Dunham reports >>

5. The List: The deadliest mass shootings in Texas history. Texas has been the site of some of the deadliest mass shootings of the past 50 years — but none as deadly as the Newtown murders. Here is a list of the worst mass shootings in Texas history.Rick Dunham reports >>

6. Kay Bailey Hutchison delivers farewell address to Senate colleagues. The senator, who is retiring this year after three full terms in the Senate, remembered some of the difficult moments of her tenure, from the September 11 terrorist attacks to last week’s Newtown shootings, noting “a sadness has set in with the news of a massacre.” Rick Dunham reports >>

7. Ted Poe comes out in favor of immigration reform, comes under withering attack from hardliners. The Republican from Humble declared that “it’s time for Republicans to take the lead on immigration reform,” noting that Texas solution proposal is a good starting point for the GOP. Jana Kasperkevic reports >>

8. In the aftermath of Newtown shooting, Rick Perry warns about a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ for gun control. “One of the things that I hope we don’t want to see from the federal government is a knee-jerk reaction from Washington, D.C., when there is an event that occurs, that they can come in and think they know the answer,” Perry said in North Richland Hills. Jana Kasperkevic reports >>

9. Sheila Jackson Lee says schools need retractable bulletproof doors to keep our children safe. “I cannot at this juncture believe that arming teachers, or that teachers would want to be armed, is going to be an answer for a place that is a refuge for learning, for creativity, for solace, for happiness and for our children,” Jackson Lee said during the interview. Jana Kasperkevic reports >>

10. A preview of the likely gun control proposals on Capitol Hill. Even in the stunned aftermath of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., observers say the likelihood of gun control legislation winning congressional approval is remote. Dan Freedman reports >>